Defamatory statements about organised groups such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, the SS, the Ku Klux Klan, or the Mafia are distinguishable from generalisations about broad classes like 'all lawyers' for the purposes of the group defamation principle in Eastwood v Holmes. Where a television programme contains film footage identifying individuals as members of such an organised group, it is open to a jury to find that defamatory imputations about the group were conveyed of and concerning those individuals. Identification by a limited class of viewers with extrinsic knowledge is sufficient for liability, though it may limit damages.
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